Also, enchantments aren't a theme in Theros. There are no global enchantments (other than artifacts and creatures). There is very little enchantment support. All that they did was stick the word enchantment on a bunch of cards, give them reverse Living Weapon, and call it an enchantment block. Its like if they put a bunch of humans, elves, zombies, merfolk, and goblins in a set, had no lords or cards that cared about creature types, and called it a tribal set. It doesn't work.
Right, and they weren't a theme in Urza's Saga, either, but that doesn't stop MaRo and R&D from considering that an enchantment block, too. Just because you don't think they executed a theme well doesn't mean that it isn't a major theme in R&D's eyes.
Good catch about the graveyard components, though—I quit playing from Invasion through Kamigawa, and we haven't had (and aren't likely to have) a bottom-up graveyard themed block since Odyssey, so I keep forgetting that that was ever a thing.
Wedge is going to be big—it's one of the most asked-for themes—so I think they'll want it to be present from the beginning of the block. That means it's the next gold block. Let's look at historical precedent.
Ravnica (2005) GOLD
The start of MaRo's time as head designer with block planning and interblock synergy, and the first gold block since Invasion.
Time Spiral (2006) NOSTALGIA
They knew Time Spiral was going to be an experiment, so it helped to sandwich it between two known-quantity block themes like gold and tribal. "Nostalgia" didn't pan out as a theme on its own under this execution, but it was a valuable learning experience, as this is basically the reason New World Order exists.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor (2007) TRIBAL/HYBRID
The first tribal block since Onslaught, but this wasn't such a smash hit. The execution undermined each of these themes.
Shards of Alara (2008) GOLD
During initial planning, R&D thought gold blocks could be much more frequent, but the (relatively) last-minute addition of the Hybrid theme as Shadowmoor became a block unto itself compounded Ravnica's recency, making for "too much, too soon" on the gold front. Gold blocks will be used more sparingly from now on.
Zendikar (2009) LANDS/BATTLECRUISER
The land theme was an unknown quantity at the time, but MaRo has since said that Zendikar was such a smash hit that it will likely return. Rise of the Eldrazi was reasonably successful, but its style of Magic is a major departure from the norm.
Scars of Mirrodin (2010) PHYREXIAN WAR
A sort-of prelude to the major advent of top-down block design, this was arguably an artifact block in the vein of Mirrodin before.
Innistrad (2011) HORROR
Top-down block design is hugely successful. There's a tribal theme at work here, but not to the degree that Lorwyn or Onslaught tried to do. MaRo has pointed out this was much more successful; I don't expect to see mechanical themes dominate the design the way they did in those sets again. (See also some of the problems suffered by Alara Reborn and Legions.
Return to Ravnica (2012) GOLD
Another bottom-up block design like the gold blocks of old. Maybe not as successful as Innistrad, so major mechanical themes will likely continue to be lessened in favor of contributing to an overarching flavor theme.
Theros (2013) GREEK
Enchantments have a lessened major theme like artifacts did in Scars and tribal did in Innistrad, and while it's too early to say, I think it's going well.
Based on this, I'd predict we'll get our wedge block in the fall of 2016—the sets codenamed "Lock", "Stock", and "Barrel". I'd imagine "Blood" in 2015 to use tribal components for whatever atmosphere it wants to create. Next year's "Huey" will probably have a minor artifact or land theme, since the enchantments of Theros were an unknown quantity. Either way, Huey will likely use one of Magic's established settings, factions, or villains—probably Nicol Bolas, but the Eldrazi might make an appearance instead.
I feel like Xenagos is heavily overvalued. His +1 is so situational! It's amazing if you have the hand or board to support it, but when you're in topdeck mode or your battlefield is looking bare, I feel like it's just not going to be enough.
I dunno, it just seems like Xenagos is getting set up as either Bolas himself or one of his agents. Ajani's turning up later in the block, and the art of him opposing Xenagos feels to me like it alludes to his encounter with Bolas. The horns aren't a great match, but if they were, wouldn't that give too much away?
WotC has made no secret of the fact that Time Spiral block made hardcore players happy at the expense of the casual majority, and the block was nowhere near as profitable as Zendikar block, Scars block, Innistrad block, or (by most projections) Return to Ravnica block.
THE REASON SUTURE PRIEST HAD NO 'RACE' TYPE is because Phyrexians have never had their own subtype; they've all been Zombies and Horrors and various other types over the years. During the Great Creature Type Update, it was decided to continue this tradition both because it was often ambiguous exactly which cards would need to be given a Phyrexian type and to keep the Phyrexians all the more "unnatural" and wrong-feeling. As such, Phyrexians may retain their original type (Glistener Elf) or they may not (whatever creature or creatures Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and the other praetors were), but they do not gain a single designated Phyrexian type when compleated.
So no, Suture Priest is not a "precedent" for random humanoids in non-Phyrexian settings to omit a race subtype.
Oh, there's no question that we haven't seen the last of the Phyrexians. It's just that right now Magic is in a state where they're building their stable of protagonists and villains. I expect the next few years to play out similar to a comic franchise: stop a scheme from Bolas over here one block, then the Eldrazi are up to something over there, some Phyrexian oil gets out somewhere else, then we're dealing with a "one-off" enemy faction that changes things up but doesn't necessarily go into regular rotation. Expect to see both new and familiar protagonists and antagonists in the blocks to come, but I really doubt we'll see back-to-back blocks with the same major players the way we did during the Rath Cycle.
But yeah, it would be pretty interesting to see Phyrexian allusions popping up in places even when they aren't center-stage. It's kind of awkward with the whole "compleation is incompatible with retaining a planeswalker spark" thing, but I suspect they're still somehow going to wind up corrupting a 'walker of their own sooner or later—and when they do, dripping little Phyrexian hints in the preceding blocks would be a good way to build up anticipation for that kind of reveal.
I don't see any of these guilds having a strong tie to technological innovation, industry, an arms race, firearms, electricity generation, steam, coal, or magitech-powered energy generation, or similar technologies. Granted, any of their philosophical inclinations could readily accept any kind of disruptive technology, but then it's easy for us to accept that because we live in a world where we know that technology empowers everyone.
If I understand your argument correctly, you're suggesting that, because technology can be adapted to any purpose, any guild (or even none at all) could have been the stewards of technological developments on Ravnica? Because I don't think you're sufficiently delineating between guild identity and color-pair identity.
First, the cards indicate pretty strongly that the Izzet and the Simic are the guilds of scientific progress:
-The flavor text on Assault Zeppelid reveals that the Simic develop and sell biological weapons to fund their research.
-Coalhauler Swine demonstrates the use of coal in Ravnican industry (no guild watermark, but this is clearly not a Rakdos or Gruul beast. Being red lends it heavily toward Izzet allegiance.)
-Compulsive Research portrays an Izzet mage studying what the flavor text suggests is an alchemical recipe, a "Magic-appropriate" version of chemistry.
-Copy Enchantment makes reference to the Simic's experimental method they use in developing their biological products.
-Research // Development is the quintessential embodiment of technological progress, united here to represent the adaptability of Simic biological design and Izzet production potency.
-Evolution Vat is technology used to improve biology. This is basically the inverse of Phyrexian tech, in that it's a creature inside a machine instead of a machine inside of a creature.
-Experiment Kraj is literally the opposite of a New Phyrexian: rather than breaking down and infecting others to make them more like itself, it strengthens others to incorporate their diversity into itself.
-Flow of Ideas: the Izzet invent plumbing and use it to control basically all water on the plane.
-Greater Forgeling gives a glimpse of the furnaces the Izzet use to power the plane's various constructed systems.
-Hypervolt Grasp shows an Izzet mage's electricity-controlling powers.
-Lest you think the Izzet are all play and no work, remember the text of Seismic Spike, which points out that they basically stopped natural disasters from occurring.
-Similarly, the Simic Signet flavor text reinforces the notion of the Simic as the premier brand-name for biological goods.
-Speaking of goods, Smash makes clear that Ravnica contains factories... ignoring the issue of guildless or only tenuously affiliated factories, factories only make sense if you have a product. The Izzet and Simic have products. (The Azorius, Gruul, Selesnya, and Golgari don't have products, as such. The Boros don't really have products but I could see them manufacturing anyway, since they need to equip all their recruits. Dimir products are too intangible for factories, and the Orzhov trade in others' products. Rakdos are a service-industry guild.)
The preceding observations are limited to what's portrayed on the cards themselves, but I believe they clearly establish that technology is very much the essence of the Izzet. However, as I said before, the Izzet are actually not synonymous with :symur:. As Mark Rosewater wrote in his articles examining the color pairs, each guild embodies its color pair, but it is not the only, exclusive interpretation of that color pair possible.
So while I'd agree that no one color pair has a monopoly on the concept of technology, it's a mistake to write off the Izzet just because you don't think they embody a fundamental human conflict.
The Phyrexians, for me, embody the concept of using technology to empower yourself without a care for its drawbacks. That's a really awesome premise to any story, especially as the human race barrels toward the singularity and the idea becomes more and more relevant to us all.
The Ravnicans, however, embody the idea of "let's give every two-color combination in Magic its own guild." Great, you did that, now what?
Whatever the merits or flaws of Singularity-worship (not gonna get into it here, necessarily, but I used to a big fan of the Incipient Technological Singularity, but actually I'd argue we're already in a post-Singularity society), I agree that the Phyrexians are an evocative force. For me, though, they say more about the dangers of elevating ideology and principle over the needs of the individual situation—I have a hard time drawing parallels between what is essentially the story of a disease and any narrative with deliberate, voluntary actors.
About Ravnica again, though... don't confuse the medium for the message. The conflict in Ravnica was the question of whether the guild system could weather the time of conflict brought on by the increasing spirit activity due to the rifts originating on Dominaria. I won't try to convince you that this is a good story—the story wanted the breaking of the Guildpact to really be the climax of the story, and the dissolution of the guilds altogether as the resolution, but Ravnica == Guilds in players' minds, so they stay for the good of the game.
I would like to see an actual storyline accompany the sets and work its way through the mechanics. It can be done (see: Braid) but it's not easy, and it always has to take a back seat to the gameplay.
So yeah, I see a Phyrexian in a core set post Magic 2010, I get excited. And for a good reason.
That would be very cool.
...don't hold your breath. The kind of story you're looking for (where the experience of playing echoes the process of the narrative) isn't really a great fit for a collectible card game. Sure, they have a level of control over the relative strength of certain strategies in limited and constructed, but look at Avacyn Restored: the humans and angels are winning, they pushed for angels and humans to be powerful, but the narrative of gameplay has the soulbonders in green and blue fighting and overcoming angels and their allies in limited, and in constructed, giants and ghosts and living equipment and insect aberrations are running rampant.
The Rath Cycle demonstrated why traditional narratives don't work in CCG form. Wizards has been looking for alternative narratives to employ in Magic, and I think they've been largely successful.
Alright. Thank you.
So the reason we can't have more shockland-type cards is because they would be far too powerful for modern, and make manabases very easy. Right?
Pretty much.
Having two different basic land types on a single nonbasic land is both strong in many environments and a structural callback to the original dual lands. The "shock" lands are as close to the original duals as Wizards is willing to come in terms of functionality—the drawbacks are usually to leave off the land subtypes, cause damage every time they add colored mana, come into play tapped, and/or require something of the lands already in play to avoid coming into play tapped... all of which are situationally tolerable but which combine to make cards that are much worse than the originals. Being effectively identical to the originals as long as you're willing to lose two life makes the shocklands both powerful and resonant in their similarity.
Adding new variety of dual land which shares basic land subtypes both erodes the existing design space for nonbasic lands, escalates the power-level of Modern, and also cuts down the value of the shocklands before they've had their first reprint, because the dual lands in RTR need to be flashy and tournament-playable.
That might seem like a strange requirement, but it's part of how WotC ensures the profitability of competitive Magic without pricing casual players out of the environment. A lot of newer players see things like the shocklands and aren't excited by them—who cares about mana fixing?—so they'd rather get their hands on rares and mythics that actually "do" things, so they can sell their lands to shops and pros for a decent amount and get a lot more rares and especially uncommons that they're actually interested in using, or save up for a planeswalker or other flashy mythic. Pros who understand the value of good duals are used to paying $80+ for a playset of duals and will do what it takes to make a good deck, meaning the price escalation is focused on cards that more casual players are less interested in (usually).
Mark Rosewater & his boss agreed that every block has at least one old mechanic in it from now on. Mark further clarified on his tumblr that while the rule says at least one returning mechanic is required, they are not actually limited to only one. I don't think that necessarily means we're getting Ravnican keywords and ability words brought back, though.
The shocklands are going to be reprinted, but not in RTR. Maybe M13, or maybe even M14 instead. They need to make sure there isn't too much land-subtype fetching in Standard when they print the shocks, and they run into the same problem the Zendikar full-art lands have: these are extremely desirable cards. They want to keep them 'special', which is why they didn't just dump them straight into the core sets with Xth Edition like a lot of people expected.
I'm guessing there's not more than five reprints from the original Ravnica block. Maybe 8 if there's a cycle, but I'm pretty sure they want to use player expectation to demonstrate how the plane has changed by making derivations of cards, like they did with Blightsteel Colossus. (Which, I see now, is exactly what some people have already been saying...)
^^^
Can anyone help me here, would be good to see what mechanics he talks about from ravnica.
I'm trying to find it, but despite scanning his ENTIRE tumblr into a search program and going through synopses of his 200 most recent columns, I'm coming up empty. Gonna try looking at the M12 speculation threads—I feel like somebody may have linked the article in question while we were debating which mechanics would return for M12.
And let me just take this moment to say: Jesus Christ, but Tumblr's archival and search systems are terrible.
EDIT: the more I look, the more I'm starting to think I'm just misattributing this list that Charlequin posted.
EDIT 2: Actually, now I see to be remembering a mailbag or something where he ranked the Ravnica mechanics. Convoke came in first, as I recall, but I can't find the original document.
Right, and they weren't a theme in Urza's Saga, either, but that doesn't stop MaRo and R&D from considering that an enchantment block, too. Just because you don't think they executed a theme well doesn't mean that it isn't a major theme in R&D's eyes.
Good catch about the graveyard components, though—I quit playing from Invasion through Kamigawa, and we haven't had (and aren't likely to have) a bottom-up graveyard themed block since Odyssey, so I keep forgetting that that was ever a thing.
Based on this, I'd predict we'll get our wedge block in the fall of 2016—the sets codenamed "Lock", "Stock", and "Barrel". I'd imagine "Blood" in 2015 to use tribal components for whatever atmosphere it wants to create. Next year's "Huey" will probably have a minor artifact or land theme, since the enchantments of Theros were an unknown quantity. Either way, Huey will likely use one of Magic's established settings, factions, or villains—probably Nicol Bolas, but the Eldrazi might make an appearance instead.
WotC has made no secret of the fact that Time Spiral block made hardcore players happy at the expense of the casual majority, and the block was nowhere near as profitable as Zendikar block, Scars block, Innistrad block, or (by most projections) Return to Ravnica block.
DGM draft is DGM + GTC + RTR. I suspect that DGM sealed will be DGM x 2 + GTC x 2 + RTR x 2.
So no, Suture Priest is not a "precedent" for random humanoids in non-Phyrexian settings to omit a race subtype.
...except today's new mythic X spell also demonstrates that this is a lopsided cycle at best, if it's even a cycle at all, based on XWUU mana cost.
Set two, Gatecrash: draft is Gatecrash, Gatecrash, Gatecrash.
Set three, "Sinker": draft is "Sinker", GTC, RTR.
But yeah, it would be pretty interesting to see Phyrexian allusions popping up in places even when they aren't center-stage. It's kind of awkward with the whole "compleation is incompatible with retaining a planeswalker spark" thing, but I suspect they're still somehow going to wind up corrupting a 'walker of their own sooner or later—and when they do, dripping little Phyrexian hints in the preceding blocks would be a good way to build up anticipation for that kind of reveal.
If I understand your argument correctly, you're suggesting that, because technology can be adapted to any purpose, any guild (or even none at all) could have been the stewards of technological developments on Ravnica? Because I don't think you're sufficiently delineating between guild identity and color-pair identity.
First, the cards indicate pretty strongly that the Izzet and the Simic are the guilds of scientific progress:
-The flavor text on Assault Zeppelid reveals that the Simic develop and sell biological weapons to fund their research.
-Coalhauler Swine demonstrates the use of coal in Ravnican industry (no guild watermark, but this is clearly not a Rakdos or Gruul beast. Being red lends it heavily toward Izzet allegiance.)
-Compulsive Research portrays an Izzet mage studying what the flavor text suggests is an alchemical recipe, a "Magic-appropriate" version of chemistry.
-Copy Enchantment makes reference to the Simic's experimental method they use in developing their biological products.
-Research // Development is the quintessential embodiment of technological progress, united here to represent the adaptability of Simic biological design and Izzet production potency.
-Evolution Vat is technology used to improve biology. This is basically the inverse of Phyrexian tech, in that it's a creature inside a machine instead of a machine inside of a creature.
-Experiment Kraj is literally the opposite of a New Phyrexian: rather than breaking down and infecting others to make them more like itself, it strengthens others to incorporate their diversity into itself.
-Flow of Ideas: the Izzet invent plumbing and use it to control basically all water on the plane.
-Greater Forgeling gives a glimpse of the furnaces the Izzet use to power the plane's various constructed systems.
-Hypervolt Grasp shows an Izzet mage's electricity-controlling powers.
-Lest you think the Izzet are all play and no work, remember the text of Seismic Spike, which points out that they basically stopped natural disasters from occurring.
-Similarly, the Simic Signet flavor text reinforces the notion of the Simic as the premier brand-name for biological goods.
-Speaking of goods, Smash makes clear that Ravnica contains factories... ignoring the issue of guildless or only tenuously affiliated factories, factories only make sense if you have a product. The Izzet and Simic have products. (The Azorius, Gruul, Selesnya, and Golgari don't have products, as such. The Boros don't really have products but I could see them manufacturing anyway, since they need to equip all their recruits. Dimir products are too intangible for factories, and the Orzhov trade in others' products. Rakdos are a service-industry guild.)
The preceding observations are limited to what's portrayed on the cards themselves, but I believe they clearly establish that technology is very much the essence of the Izzet. However, as I said before, the Izzet are actually not synonymous with :symur:. As Mark Rosewater wrote in his articles examining the color pairs, each guild embodies its color pair, but it is not the only, exclusive interpretation of that color pair possible.
So while I'd agree that no one color pair has a monopoly on the concept of technology, it's a mistake to write off the Izzet just because you don't think they embody a fundamental human conflict.
Whatever the merits or flaws of Singularity-worship (not gonna get into it here, necessarily, but I used to a big fan of the Incipient Technological Singularity, but actually I'd argue we're already in a post-Singularity society), I agree that the Phyrexians are an evocative force. For me, though, they say more about the dangers of elevating ideology and principle over the needs of the individual situation—I have a hard time drawing parallels between what is essentially the story of a disease and any narrative with deliberate, voluntary actors.
About Ravnica again, though... don't confuse the medium for the message. The conflict in Ravnica was the question of whether the guild system could weather the time of conflict brought on by the increasing spirit activity due to the rifts originating on Dominaria. I won't try to convince you that this is a good story—the story wanted the breaking of the Guildpact to really be the climax of the story, and the dissolution of the guilds altogether as the resolution, but Ravnica == Guilds in players' minds, so they stay for the good of the game.
...don't hold your breath. The kind of story you're looking for (where the experience of playing echoes the process of the narrative) isn't really a great fit for a collectible card game. Sure, they have a level of control over the relative strength of certain strategies in limited and constructed, but look at Avacyn Restored: the humans and angels are winning, they pushed for angels and humans to be powerful, but the narrative of gameplay has the soulbonders in green and blue fighting and overcoming angels and their allies in limited, and in constructed, giants and ghosts and living equipment and insect aberrations are running rampant.
The Rath Cycle demonstrated why traditional narratives don't work in CCG form. Wizards has been looking for alternative narratives to employ in Magic, and I think they've been largely successful.
Pretty much.
Having two different basic land types on a single nonbasic land is both strong in many environments and a structural callback to the original dual lands. The "shock" lands are as close to the original duals as Wizards is willing to come in terms of functionality—the drawbacks are usually to leave off the land subtypes, cause damage every time they add colored mana, come into play tapped, and/or require something of the lands already in play to avoid coming into play tapped... all of which are situationally tolerable but which combine to make cards that are much worse than the originals. Being effectively identical to the originals as long as you're willing to lose two life makes the shocklands both powerful and resonant in their similarity.
Adding new variety of dual land which shares basic land subtypes both erodes the existing design space for nonbasic lands, escalates the power-level of Modern, and also cuts down the value of the shocklands before they've had their first reprint, because the dual lands in RTR need to be flashy and tournament-playable.
That might seem like a strange requirement, but it's part of how WotC ensures the profitability of competitive Magic without pricing casual players out of the environment. A lot of newer players see things like the shocklands and aren't excited by them—who cares about mana fixing?—so they'd rather get their hands on rares and mythics that actually "do" things, so they can sell their lands to shops and pros for a decent amount and get a lot more rares and especially uncommons that they're actually interested in using, or save up for a planeswalker or other flashy mythic. Pros who understand the value of good duals are used to paying $80+ for a playset of duals and will do what it takes to make a good deck, meaning the price escalation is focused on cards that more casual players are less interested in (usually).
I'm guessing there's not more than five reprints from the original Ravnica block. Maybe 8 if there's a cycle, but I'm pretty sure they want to use player expectation to demonstrate how the plane has changed by making derivations of cards, like they did with Blightsteel Colossus. (Which, I see now, is exactly what some people have already been saying...)
I'm trying to find it, but despite scanning his ENTIRE tumblr into a search program and going through synopses of his 200 most recent columns, I'm coming up empty. Gonna try looking at the M12 speculation threads—I feel like somebody may have linked the article in question while we were debating which mechanics would return for M12.
And let me just take this moment to say: Jesus Christ, but Tumblr's archival and search systems are terrible.
EDIT: the more I look, the more I'm starting to think I'm just misattributing this list that Charlequin posted.
EDIT 2: Actually, now I see to be remembering a mailbag or something where he ranked the Ravnica mechanics. Convoke came in first, as I recall, but I can't find the original document.